Mage's Chloromancer is a great tank healer, and a pretty good AoE healer(again, not at same time).

Both work for all raid encounters, although Clerics get more guaranteed spots I guess as Puris are useful in all fights and Defiler's nearly mandatory for most with high tank damage(doable without, but so much better with). Downside is Sent is rarely used because of it, but it's the go-to dungeon healer spec.

So yeah, play whichever you like more, both will get recruited. If you don't do only healing though, Clerics have never been "great" DPS-wise, even atm when most stuff is relatively balanced. They do make amazing tanks though. Mages, on the other hand, are great at both their other roles, DPS and Support.

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^^ That's the best advice you're going to get.

If you only want to ever play healer.. then Cleric has more options for you if you want to switch healing styles. Mage gives you decent flexibility for other roles though if you ever want to play them. Both are excellent soloers but Cleric easily has the best survivability. It's all very fine cut though.. there are some excellent cleric dps builds, they might not top the most well known mage builds but a cleric does offer a lot of passive support even when in a dps spec.. so it's fine line. I would argue that a shaman/druid physical damage melee cleric build is extremely high dps (more than my Pyro Mage) but is rarely seen. For some reason the community hasn't picked up on this combination, probably because the shaman tree 'hints' towards using elemental damage.

But yeh, if you only want to heal.. Cleric has more options and playstyles for healing.

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I just started getting into Rift, so take my words as the advice of someone who hasn't experienced end-game.

I've been reading a LOT on forums and other guide sites to try to figure out what I want to play. I had considered Bard, but I would rather play a class that can swing a giant sword/axe/hammer instead of swinging two small things at once.

If you're looking for a class that can heal and switch roles to tanking or DPS, Rogue is another option. The Bard soul doesn't seem to be regarded as capable of taking the place of the Cleric/Mage as the main healer in all situations, but the buffs and AoE healing seem to be welcome in raids. The Tactician soul also seems to have some AoE healing as well.

Instead of asking which class is good at one role, pick the class that has the playstyle you enjoy the most. Every class can switch their role by changing builds.

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Thanks to everyone who replied, I appreciate the insight on what is most common/most useful late game. I currently have all characters to level 20 to try them out, I was definitely best with the Cleric and the Rogue.

Which brings me to my next question

Originally posted by syntax42

I just started getting into Rift, so take my words as the advice of someone who hasn't experienced end-game.

I've been reading a LOT on forums and other guide sites to try to figure out what I want to play. I had considered Bard, but I would rather play a class that can swing a giant sword/axe/hammer instead of swinging two small things at once.

If you're looking for a class that can heal and switch roles to tanking or DPS, Rogue is another option. The Bard soul doesn't seem to be regarded as capable of taking the place of the Cleric/Mage as the main healer in all situations, but the buffs and AoE healing seem to be welcome in raids. The Tactician soul also seems to have some AoE healing as well.

Instead of asking which class is good at one role, pick the class that has the playstyle you enjoy the most. Every class can switch their role by changing builds.

It's kinda ironic you mentioned this because I was having a TON of fun with the Rogue's Bard as well. The thing I found, especially in PVP BG matches was that I had absolutely zero burst healing. I couldn't even self-heal enough to take out an attacker, though the buffs were excellent I felt like I was running around buffing more than I was doing anything else, and I don't know how useful I was really being. I since have just picked up the SL xpac so I plan to try out the Tactician build now and see if that makes things a little more interesting :)

I did really enjoy the cleric's survival skills. I should mention I really love to PVP so a good chunk of my leveling is going to come in the battlegrounds, just based on where I end up spending a lot of my time.

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Also is there any way for a Bard to get a direct targetted heal? I understand that a Rogue isn't a healing class, but I would like a way to at least be able to keep myself up while soloing. I find with the Cleric it's survivability is amazing.